More transgender and gender-neutral teenagers are having "top surgery" -- double mastectomies -- to make their bodies conform with their gender identities, reports Azeen Ghorayshi in the New York Times. One surgeon who specializes in gender "affirmation" advertises on TikTok.
The story shows some skepticism about the trend: "Some clinicians have pointed to the rising demand and the turmoil of adolescent development as reasons for doctors to slow down before offering irreversible procedures," writes Ghorayshi.
Most commenters are dubious too, pointing out that it's common for teenager girls to dislike their bodies -- and to adjust to womanhood as they mature.
When my daughter was in middle and high school, anorexia and bulimia were spreading among girls like the flu. Several classmates starved themselves into the hospital anorexia ward. But doctors and therapists didn't "affirm" their belief that they needed to be thinner or ignore the underlying depression.
Mutilation
Where do they get the money for this folly? I would think you'd have to work in an entry-level job for about a metric forever to pay for it. Obviously, parents are paying, which seems pretty close to child abuse. Also, just for good measure, let's tar and feather the doctors who lend their office to this insanity.